Tag: Summer activities

June is Great Outdoors Month. How will you celebrate the summer outside?

Want to keep kids from getting bored this summer and create memories that they’ll have for a lifetime?
Here are 101 ideas for summer FUN from care.com!

  1. Bake cookies for ice cream sandwiches.
  2. Volunteer at a nature center.
  3. Make a photo journal or a family yearbook.
  4. Have a luau in the backyard.
  5. Visit the beach and collect shells.
  6. Make a fort out of cardboard boxes.
  7. Visit a farmer’s market.
  8. Stage an A-to-Z scavenger hunt, where you have to find something that starts with every letter. Or try one of these other scavenger hunt ideas
  9. Pick fresh berries.
  10. Have a picnic at a state park.
  11. Make ice cream. You can even try using YayLab’s ice cream ball, which you fill with ice cream base and kick around until frozen.
  12. Go canoeing at a local lake.
  13. Build a sandcastle.
  14. Write and illustrate your own book and have it published into an actual hardcover book using IlluStory.
  15. Set up an ice cream sundae buffet for dinner.
  16. Clean up trash at a park in your neighborhood.
  17. Have a backyard campfire … or just use the grill! Roast hot dogs on sticks, pop popcorn and finish off with s’mores.
  18. Make homemade pizza.
  19. Go for a nature walk and then make a collage from objects you find along the way.
  20. Head to a creek and look at the ducks.
  21. Set up a lemonade stand and raise some money for a good cause.
  22. Have a water balloon toss … or fight!
  23. Practice your origami skills and make construction paper crafts to hang from the ceiling.
  24. Go biking on a trail.
  25. Interview a grandparent or an older relative about what life was like when they were young.
  26. Plan a picnic at a local park — or in your backyard.
  27. Save this list of Caldecott Medal-winning kids books, and visit the local library throughout the summer and try to read as many as you can.
  28. Create salad spinner art by placing circles of paper inside a cheap salad spinner, dab tempera paints on top, cover and spin away.
  29. Practice making interesting shadow puppets and then put on a show with your characters.
  30. Plant a garden of herbs and veggies.
  31. Make a sidewalk chalk mural and invite the neighbor kids to join in the fun.
  32. Go ice blocking (sledding) on grass with a towel-covered block of ice.
  33. Have an outdoor painting party using huge canvases or cardboard.
  34. Visit a fish hatchery.
  35. Plant a butterfly garden with flowers.
  36. Pretend to be pirates for a day — dress up in costumes, plan a treasure hunt and talk like a pirate.
  37. Make an indoor “sandbox” using colored rice by mixing 4 cups of rice, 3 tablespoons of rubbing alcohol, and a few drops of food coloring and and letting it dry overnight.
  38. Turn the backyard into a carnival — set up a face painting area and games like ring toss.
  39. Make totem poles out of paper towel rolls and decorate them.
  40. Visit a museum you’ve never been to.
  41. Make a giant hopscotch or Twister game on the lawn (with spray paint) or driveway (with chalk).
  42. String beads into jewelry.
  43. Make a bird house out of Popsicle sticks.
  44. Learn about stargazing and identify as many constellations as possible — see if there are any local astronomy groups for kids.
  45. Create leis with wildflowers.
  46. Go fossil hunting near a lake.
  47. Break out your baseball glove and start a game, sandlot style.
  48. Make paper boats and race them in a kiddie pool using straws to propel them.
  49. Play mini-golf — or set up a course in your driveway by laying different size containers on their sides.
  50. Make a sand art garden and plant a succulent.
  51. Get a map of the United States and mark off all the exciting places you want to visit — create the ultimate road trip.
  52. Set up a net and play badminton and volleyball. Or try one of these other backyard games for kids.
  53. Visit an amusement park or water park.
  54. Wade through a stream and search for minnows or tadpoles.
  55. Go zip-lining.
  56. Have a tricycle race at the park.
  57. Investigate an ethnic grocery store and make lunch using interesting spices and kid-friendly international recipes.
  58. Visit a fire station.
  59. Collect rocks and paint them to use as paperweights or pet rocks.
  60. Go roller skating.
  61. Visit a zoo or aquarium to learn about animals.
  62. Run through the sprinklers.
  63. Blend your own smoothie — they’re good for you!
  64. Set up a bike wash and raise money for a local charity.
  65. Batter up at a batting cage.
  66. Let kids paint the sidewalk or patio with plain old water and sponge brushes. When their creation dries, they can begin again.
  67. Bake cupcakes in ice cream cones and then decorate them.
  68. Assemble a family cookbook with all your favorite recipes.
  69. Go horseback riding.
  70. Make popsicles in Dixie cups using fruit juices.
  71. Catch fireflies in a jar (and let them go at the end of the night).
  72. Stage your own Summer Olympics with races, hurdles and relays.
  73. Create a backyard circus — kids can pretend to be animals and dress up as clowns.
  74. Decorate bikes and have a neighborhood Fourth of July parade.
  75. Take a sewing/crochet/knitting class.
  76. Make Mexican paper flowers using different colored tissue paper.
  77. Go to a flea market.
  78. Volunteer at an animal adoption organization.
  79. Visit a retirement home and read stories to residents.
  80. Attend an outdoor festival or concert.
  81. Pick a nearby town to visit for the day.
  82. Visit a cave.
  83. Mark off all the local parks on a map — then visit them, take pictures and vote for your favorite.
  84. Take in a fireworks exhibit.
  85. Make crafts with recyclable items like stickers using old photos, magazines and repositionable glue.
  86. Make your own hard-to-pop bubbles with 1 cup of distilled water, 2 tablespoons of Dawn dish soap and 1 tablespoon of glycerin.
  87. Paint canvas sneakers with fabric paint pens or acrylic paint.
  88. Create three-dimensional buildings using toothpicks and mini marshmallows.
  89. Make bird feeders by covering pine cones with peanut butter and rolling in birdseed.
  90. Paint with ice by freezing ice cube trays with washable tempera paint.
  91. Create unusual s’mores by experimenting with ingredients like cookies, bananas, mini candy bars, flavored marshmallows and white chocolate.
  92. Have a fancy tea party.
  93. Make a giant slip-n-slide with a painter’s tarp and shaving cream.
  94. Go camping in the backyard or at a campsite.
  95. Let kids paint each other with washable tempera paint and then wash it off in a sprinkler run.
  96. Visit a national park and help the kids earn a junior ranger badge.
  97. Go to a ballgame and teach your kids (and yourself) how to keep a scorecard.
  98. Set up a tent in the backyard to use as a summer playhouse.
  99. Take a free kid’s workshop at stores like Lowe’s, Home Depot or Pottery Barn.
  100. Have a game night with charades, Pictionary and bingo.
  101. Let kids brainstorm creative things to do with a boring brown paper bag — you’ll be surprised at how many things you can come up with.

(Picture from http://www.care.com)

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Celebrate productivity and Dads with The Morning Thing – 6/20/16

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Today is Word Productivity Day. Would you like to become more productive?
The Morning Thing shared 21 tips on how to become the most productive person you know.

Here are 21 tips to get you to your best productivity from Robin Sharma.

#1. Check email in the afternoon so you protect the peak energy hours of your mornings for your best work.

#2. Stop waiting for perfect conditions to launch a great project. Immediate action fuels a positive feedback loop that drives even more action.

#3. Remember that big, brave goals release energy. So set them clearly and then revisit them every morning for 5 minutes.

#4. Mess creates stress (I learned this from tennis icon Andre Agassi who said he wouldn’t let anyone touch his tennis bag because if it got disorganized, he’d get distracted). So clean out the clutter in your office to get more done.

#5. Sell your TV. You’re just watching other people get successful versus doing the things that will get you to your dreams.

#6. Say goodbye to the energy vampires in your life (the negative souls who steal your enthusiasm).

#7. Run routines. When I studied the creative lives of massively productive people like Stephen King, John Grisham and Thomas Edison, I discovered they follow strict daily routines. (i.e., when they would get up, when they would start work, when they would exercise and when they would relax). Peak productivity’s not about luck. It’s about devotion.

#8. Get up at 5 am. Win the battle of the bed. Put mind over mattress. This habit alone will strengthen your willpower so it serves you more dutifully in the key areas of your life.

#9. Don’t do so many meetings. (I’ve trained the employees of our FORTUNE 500 clients on exactly how to do this – including having the few meetings they now do standing up – and it’s created breakthrough results for them).

#10. Don’t say yes to every request. Most of us have a deep need to be liked. That translates into us saying yes to everything – which is the end of your elite productivity.

#11. Outsource everything you can’t be BIW (Best in the World) at. Focus only on activities within what I call “Your Picasso Zone”.

#12. Stop multi-tasking. New research confirms that all the distractions invading our lives are rewiring the way our brains work (and drop our IQ by 5 points!). Be one of the rare-air few who develops the mental and physical discipline to have a mono-maniacal focus on one thing for many hours. (It’s all about practice).

#13. Get fit like Madonna. Getting to your absolute best physical condition will create explosive energy, renew your focus and multiply your creativity.

#14. Workout 2X a day. This is just one of the little-known productivity tactics that I’ll walk you through in my new online training program YOUR PRODUCTIVITY UNLEASHED, but here’s the key: exercise is one of the greatest productivity tools in the world. So do 20 minutes first thing in the morning and then another workout around 6 or 7 pm to set you up for wow in the evening.

#15. Drink more water. When you’re dehydrated, you’ll have far less energy. And get less done.

#16. Work in 90 minute blocks with 10 minute intervals to recover and refuel (another game-changing move I personally use to do my best work).

#17. Write a Stop Doing List. Every productive person obsessively sets To Do Lists. But those who play at world-class also record what they commit to stop doing. Steve Jobs said that what made Apple Apple was not so much what they chose to build but all the projects they chose to ignore.

#18. Use your commute time. If you’re commuting 30 minutes each way every day – get this: at the end of a year, you’ve spent 6 weeks of 8 hour days in your car. I encourage you to use that time to listen to fantastic books on audio + excellent podcasts and valuable learning programs. Remember, the fastest way to double your income is to triple your rate of learning.

#19. Be a contrarian. Why buy your groceries at the time the store is busiest? Why go to movies on the most popular nights? Why hit the gym when the gym’s completely full? Do things at off-peak hours and you’ll save so many of them.

#20. Get things right the first time. Most people are wildly distracted these days. And so they make mistakes. To unleash your productivity, become one of the special performers who have the mindset of doing what it takes to get it flawless first. This saves you days of having to fix problems.

#21. Get lost. Don’t be so available to everyone. I often spend hours at a time in the cafeteria of a university close to our headquarters. I turn off my devices and think, create, plan and write. Zero interruptions. Pure focus. Massive results.

Today is also the FIRST Day of Summer! We decided to keep the celebration of Dad going today with 8 great ideas for summer fun for Dads and kids.

fun summer ideas

8 Fun Summer Ideas for Dads and Kids

My dad used the season of summer for fun bonding with me. In my elementary years, he would take me on sales call road trips with him. I loved every second of it. When I was 10, he took the entire month of July off and hauled my family from North Carolina to California and back in a conversion van. He took me to minor league baseball games, local fairs, beaches, and so many things I have no room to list. But what I loved the most was how he always called me, “Little Buddy.” He could have just pushed me on a swing and it would have all had the same effect because I could feel his genuine affection.

Our children seek that type of feeling from us and this season begs us to provide it. Here are some fun summer ideas to help you get on that path of building those bonds that will last forever.

1. Build Something

Kids of all ages absolutely love to build things with their dad. I grew up in the 70s when building things with dad meant an education in colorful vocabulary, but I wouldn’t trade a minute of it. You can build a simple fort in the living room, an elaborate fort in the trees, or maybe even a lemonade stand. The point is to make it a priority to show your children how to create from imagination.

2. Hiking in a National Park

All across our country America is busting with beautiful nature set aside to remain in a pure state. This is not only for the preservation of wildlife and the environment, but for us to be able to experience a world different from the cities and suburbs. Take advantage of this gift and get your children out in the clean air and on a hike to lifelong memories.

3. Weird Regional Attractions

I’ve always had an affinity for the things that fit in this category. One thing on my bucket list I have yet to see is the giant Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe, in Minnesota. Younger kids eat this stuff up, and I’ve shown my kids all kinds of strange sights on the road. Giant plastic dinosaurs, Airstream trailers sticking out of the dirt, caverns, even a Florida “waterfall” that drops about 6 inches. It took 2o minutes to hike to a 6-inch waterfall. It was worth it.

4. Backyard Camping

Every child should experience camping at least once. The whole deal: the tent, the sleeping bags, the campfire, the beans, the S’mores, the stories, the laughter. They make tents nowadays that anyone can put up; we no longer have the excuse of what a giant pain in the rear they can be.

5. Get in the Water

It need not be explained that summer and water are two peas in a pod. Find an ocean, a lake, a swimming hole, a river perfect for tubing or just the local neighborhood pool, and get in the water. You are a “can’t miss” hero in the water, even if you just stand there and smile. However, if you do fun things as well, you’ll be a downright superhero.

6. Bowling

Bowling is arguably the most family-friendly sport. It’s complicated enough to provide stimulating competition for the older children, but it’s easily transferable to move to a toddler barely shoving a ball between the bumpers and grinning ear to ear.

7. Scavenger Hunt

When my kids were small, one of my favorite things to do was put them in the wagon behind my John Deere, and take them on a scavenger hunt. I’d be careful to make sure they noticed particular types of oak trees or certain unique neighborhood landmarks. When they accumulated enough clues to guess where the treasure was, off we’d go down the street by their direction. Waiting for them was a goody bag of fun rewards. Perhaps they will do the same with their own one day.

8. Volunteer as a Family

We were created to serve others and, when we do, our souls are enriched and deepened in ways that are never lost within us. There are endless volunteer opportunities in every community via churches, civic organizations, and government bodies. But sometimes the best way to serve is to simply ask a neighbor or friend that is struggling how you can be of help. Love your neighbor as yourself.

 

Productivity picture from https://blog.shoprocket.co
Summer Ideas picture from www.allprodad.com

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